International Human Resources Specialist

Background

Despite significant interventions and achievements since 2001, Afghanistan’s education and literacy outcomes continue to rank poorly compared to other countries. For example, only about 64% of Afghanistan’s population is considered functionally illiterate, 3.5 million school age children are not enrolled in school, and 43% of students fail to meet minimum standards in reading and fluency. To combat this situation The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), Embassy of Denmark (EoD), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank (WB), are all working together to support the education sector of Afghanistan. Each of the partners is working closely with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to implement national programmes in different areas of the education sector. For instance, UNESCO Kabul launched the Programme for Enhancement of Literacy in Afghanistan (ELA) in 2009, the largest literacy development programme currently in existence in the country. The Programme is implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education’s Deputy Ministry of Education for Literacy (DMoEL) and has enhanced the literacy skills of more than 600,000 adult learners across the country over the last 5 years, and intends to reach total target of 1.2 million by 2016. Additionally, since November 2011 USAID’s Basic Education, Learning, and Training program has endeavored to improve access to education and increase the quality of instruction at schools throughout Afghanistan.

The Ministry for Education is mandated to develop the human capital base of Afghanistan through all levels of education. It aims to provide equitable access to primary and secondary education to all children, and technical and vocational education and literacy programs for adults. MoE is keen to improve its capacity in supporting, in many cases directly implementing large-scale programs such as ELA, BELT, The Second Education Quality Improvement Project (EQUIP), Education Support Programme to Afghanistan (ESPA II), and Global Partnership for Education (GPE), without depending heavily on donor supported technical assistants (hereafter TAs, which is currently the case for all programmatic and operational activities, at central and sub-national levels).

One of the major challenges facing all partners is the dependence on TAs in planning and implementing programmes. The TAs have been utilized by all entities in executing programmes due to current capacity and number of the government staff (Tashkeel), creating a dangerous parallel structure which is questionable for sustainability in continuation of the programmes.

TAs are funded through donor contribution to support/implement development programmes in collaboration with Tashkeel staff. The preliminary review conducted by MoE, the donors are funding well over 1,000 TAs in the Ministry of Education at both central and sub-national levels, across different functions and seniorities. Among concerns triggered by heavy utilization of TAs, is the large gap of remuneration level between TAs and the Tashkeel staff. This has become an imminent point of unsustainability, since this gap will not be covered for all staff even with effect of CBR, and also is demotivating for the government staff. In order to mitigate and harmonize the remuneration practice across ministries and within the same ministry, the Ministry of Finance in 2013 issued a decree “the National Technical Assistance Remuneration Policy (NTA policy)” for all partners funding TAs to comply the remuneration scale articulated in the policy. However to holistically capture the status of alinement to the NTA policy till date and maximize the intended outputs of the NTAs to gradually reduce the dependency to highly remunerated TAs, collaborated efforts and higher political will from all partners utilizing the TAs is needed.

It is unarguable that the major bottle neck to gradually reduce the dependency on the TA utilization is current capacity and number of the Tashkeel staff which does not matches with burst needs the country required. For instance the considerable increase of the number of children back in schools and 11 million adults in need to literacy provision poses particular challenges to the MoE. In given situation, the WB has introduced the Capacity Building for Results (CBR project) which supports selected line ministries including the MoE with recruitment of managerial, common function and professional staff for key positions and training of Tashkeel staff. The MoE envisages to be benefitted from the CBR project and application for the scheme pending at the MoE currently to meet the prerequisites for the application; a civil reform plan across the ministry and Tashkeel staffing plans from deputy ministries. Whilst improvement the CBR would bring on the current capacity and number of MoE Tashkeel staff well anticipated, the MoE being the ministry with the largest number of the Tashkeel staff among all ministries in the country, the situation on capacity and number of the staff is reasonably expected to remain as the central concern.

In order to plan capacity building and transfer of the tasks of literacy programme that UNESCO is currently supporting, there has been close coordination and discussions with other partners working with MoE who are facing similar challenges, such as World Bank (WB), Embassy of Denmark (EoD), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Furthermore, UNESCO is in discussions with cross-ministerial organizations as well, such as Civilian Technical Assistance Program (CTAP) that have been providing TAs to ministry of finance for years.

Objective

The overall purpose for the consultant is to work with UNESCO, MoE, and donors, to conduct a TA sustainability needs analysis study and action plan.

Deliverables

Main Deliverables and Responsibility of the Consultancy:

1. An inception report detailing the methodology the consultant will use in implementing the assignment and the work plan:A thorough TA’s mapping and needs analysis is needed to be conducted, which indicates mapping of TAs against their departments and donors as well as functions and salaries. It is important that this is done both at central and provincial level of ministry. Proper recruitment and reorganization of TAs can only be assessed through a thorough review of the government needs and gaps with current capacity and the number of Tashkeel staff.
2. TAs Restructuring Plan: A Demand driven TAs restructuring plan (recruitment/attrition/movement) and Tashkeel staff capacity development plan to complement the assistance of other capacity building efforts including the CBR. The scope of this deliverable would be same as the deliverable 1. The departments will be selected by the funding partners exclusively.
3. MoE TA recruitment manual: Develop standard procedures for the recruitment and deployment of TAs across MoE.
4. A PowerPoint presentation for the donors and other stakeholders summarizing the assignment findings and recommendations.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will undertake/lead the following specific tasks (aligned with deliverables in above section):

1.1 Consult TAs within the DMoEL, HRMU, and Finance departments of MoE, in addition to the provincial literacy departments and local partners for selected provinces, and map their daily programme and operations related work and deliverables for donor programmes- in particular UNESCO, USAID, WB, EoD (henceforth referred to as donors)

1.2 Consult representative sample of TAs and map their daily programme related work and deliverables for the donor programmes in MoE, both at central level and selected provinces

1.3 Construct detailed workload mapping of donor programme labor and task division within MoE tashkeel and TAs, including workload analysis and any gaps in staffing needs and redundancy in staffing

1.4 Construct a detailed HR needs assessment and identify knowledge and skills gap and any requirements in capacity building among MoE staff (both tashkeel and TAs)

1.5 Utilizing the workload mapping and the needs analysis plan, recommend any restructuring needed (where should the cut down be among TAs, where more TAs needed)

2.1 Construct a restructuring plan based on recommendations to outline TA staffing against tasks and deliverables for donor programmes

2.2 Demand driven recommendations for government to address staffing redundancies and shortfalls

2.3 Collect data on where capacity building is most urgently needed for tashkeel and develop a capacity building plan for those areas

3.1 Analyze current policies around recruitments of TAs by HRMU

3.2 Recommend improvements in policies around transparency in recruitment of TAs

3.3 Gender angle implementation in the policies to encourage gender empowerment

4.1 Based on 1 and 2 deliverables, write a summary TA report which includes the findings as well as capacity building and restructuring recommendations Present recommendations to MoE and donors

Reporting

a) An inception report that will include TAs mapping indicating TA presence against departments, donors, salaries, and functions; Workload mapping report of labor and task division within MoE tashkeel and TAs; and HR needs assessment report identifying knowledge and skills gap and any requirements in capacity building among MoE staff (both tashkeel and TAs).

b) Restructuring plan, outlining TA staffing against tasks and deliverables for donor programmes, identifying duplications and gaps in TA staffing;

c) A TAs recruitment manual for the MoE.

d) A PowerPoint presentation for the donors and other stakeholders summarizing the assignment findings and recommendations.

Qualifications

Educational background-Mandatory requirement:

PHD in HR, public administration, business administration, institutional/organizational development, or related field.

Work experience-Mandatory requirement:

a) At least ten (10) years of experience providing human resource services and/or managing staff and operational systems, to senior interlocutors or institutional clients, preferably in a government institution;

b) Experience working in developing or post-conflict countries;

c) Experience in the development of a model manual of policies and procedures for a government institution, preferably in a government and specifically involving its human resources units;

d) Experience leading assessments of government human resources and/or administrative systems

e) Good understanding of national government processes in relation to a ministry institution, specifically on its staffing system and procedures;

f) Exposure to politically tense settings;

g) Excellent computer skills, with MS Office (Word, Excel, Power Point); and

h) In-depth knowledge and experience with human resource monitoring and evaluation in a development context.

Language skills: Mandatory requirement: Excellent oral and written English.

Competencies

a) Knowledge and expertise in human resource strengthening and governance;

b) Ability to present and elaborate on the key self-assessment methodology for ministries, i.e., define the typical elements of a self-assessment, such as: mandate, focus of institution, structure, management structure, management practices, information flow, accountability lines, coordination activities with other institutions, staffing capacities, job descriptions, overall plan for the institution, etcetera;

c) Ability to review and evaluate the key organizational components of a government body, thus: leadership, staffing, policies, strategies, partnerships, resources and processes, towards rationalizing systems and procedures to eliminate delays, overlaps and redundancies, and for that parliamentary body to function effectively and efficiently;

d) Ability to analyze work methods, work flows, etcetera, in order to rationalize them for improved efficiency;

e) Ability to identify and recommend remedial measures to address problems in systems design or implementation;

f) Ability to advocate and provide policy advice, and make recommendations regarding design or operation of systems or programmes within organizational units;

g) Displays analytical judgment and demonstrated ability to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner;

h) Demonstrates strong intellectual and operational capacity in providing and coordinating advisory services to stakeholders; and

i) Ability to assist in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs;

j) Ability to ensure the incorporation of best practices and lessons learned in the self-assessment of DMoEL using global best practices in the area of Human Resource development;

k) Ability to maintain a sound understanding of government, parliamentary and political processes in Afghanistan with focus on human resource development efforts of the Government of Afghanistan.

l) Ability to support the sharing of results and products, lessons learned and good practices with donors, ministries, agencies, and other stakeholders.

1.Communications and Networking skills:

a) Excellent oral communication skills and conflict resolution competency to manage inter-group dynamics and mediate conflicting interests of varied actors;

b) Excellent written communication skills, with analytical capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports;

c) Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior and high ranking members of national and international institutions, parliament, government and non-government;

d) Excellent inter-personal skills and the ability to work in a multi-cultural, multinational, multi-stakeholder setting, and a demonstrable ability to motivate people and work in a team setting;

e) Substantial level of self-organization, methodical, sets priorities and pays attention to details; and

f) Excellent training, facilitation and presentation skills.

2.Management and leadership:

a) Ability to lead government self-assessment, results-based management and reporting;

b) Excellent leadership skills

c) Focuses on impact and result for the Ministry body as beneficiary;

d) Ability to analyze work methods, work flows, etcetera, in order to rationalize them for improved efficiency;

e) Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;

f) Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;

g) Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet required deadlines; and

h) Good understanding and practice of capacity development.

3.Desirable competencies:

a) Excellent planning and facilitation skills;

b) Cultural awareness and sensitivity;

c) Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and flexibly;

d) Ability to research, analyze and present complex information as demonstrated by past work experience and references;

e) Ability to establish and maintain strong and effective working relationships;

f) Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills;

g) Strong analytical and presentation skills as demonstrated by past work experience and references; and

h) Good facilitation skillsOther Information

Supervision: The overall work under this consultancy would be supervised by donor management working group.

Timeframe:01 September 2015 – 30 November 2015

Budget/basis of fees:The successful bidder must submit an itemized budget reflecting charges for each activity / deliverable in line with Annex I

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested candidates are asked to send:

1. Up-to-date UNESCO curriculum vitae (https://en.unesco.org/careers/media/3705)
2. Cover letter explaining qualifications for the position
3. An indication of the approach he/she would adopt to carry out the assignment (including methodology and theoretical framework)

By August 10, 2015, by email to e.procurement@unesco.org

The successful candidate will be expected to start with work from October 1, 2015. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.